Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 100cm Snowfall at base this season 295cm Posted on Monday 15th December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. It hasn't stopped snowing since yesterday. It's relentless! It's one of those times when numbers are difficult to be accurate with and in a way kind of meaningless. I think yesterday morning in my report I actually under-reported - there was more like 70cm on the ground once I got a measure on it. Then mid-day I moved another fresh 30cm from the same place. Then in the evening I moved another 40cm. And this morning, there was another 30-40cm. That's all fresh snowfall. So adding all of that up, it comes to 170-180cm! And a full 1m since yesterday. There's a piece of unused level land next to where I am here and the snow on that land is now getting on for 2m. I was just looking back at reports from previous seasons (you can do that too using the links at the bottom of this page) - in recent years we have never had so much snow at this early stage in the season. I think what has surprised so many locals here is how we have only really had 2 snow 'events' down to town level - basically last weekend and the weekend that has just finished - yet here we are with nearly 2m of snow piled up on the ground around town. All a bit overwhelming really, though of course exciting at the same time. As you might expect, it has been causing transportation issues as everyone tries to cope with it all. The Joetsu Shinkansen was actually stopped for a while yesterday as there was a power cut, though I'm not sure if that was related to the weather conditions somehow or not. OK so let's get onto resort stuff. This morning Iwappara are suddenly up to a snow depth of 170cm. (Compare with Christmas Day last year when that number was at 105cm). They don't seem to be opening any more lifts though with the two lifts that have been open so far remaining open. Kagura are reporting 40-50cm of new snow overnight, but there's the snow that fell during the day as well which is surely not included in that. Maiko Snow Resort now have a snow depth of 190cm and new snowfall of 60cm. It doesn't look like there's much more open in terms of lifts and course though just yet. I imagine there's a lot of snow management to deal with at the moment, but lack of snow is not going to be an issue this December. The snowfall may ease off a bit later today and tomorrow and warm up a little, but that next storm is still scheduled to be with us around Wednesday bringing with it lots more snow. Oh yes one thing I haven't mentioned, the snow has been fabulously light. Once the storm passes and people can catch their breath, conditions should be amazing. If you do get out there, take real care with all this fresh deep snow. Visibility is limited as well. --- Resorts currently open: Kagura - pretty much fully open Naeba (part open) Iwappara - part open, 2 central area lifts operating Joetsu Kokusai - part open, 5 lifts operating Maiko Snow Resort - part open, top Okusoeji area, Gondola and 2 Okusoeji lifts operating --- Official snow depths: Kagura: 200cm Naeba: 100cm Iwappara: 170cm Maiko Snow Resort: 190cm Joetsu Kokusai: 180cm --- Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date): Friday 19th December: Ishiuchi Maruyama Muikamachi Ski Resort Yuzawa Nakazato Yuzawa Kogen Yuzawa Park Saturday 20th December: Chateau Shiozawa GALA Yuzawa Ipponsugi Kandatsu Kogen Ludens Yuzawa Nakazato Snow Wood Muimamachi Hakkaisan NASPA Ski Garden Yuzawa Kogen (Nunoba area) Tuesday 23rd December: Itsukamachi Thursday 25th December: Hakkaisanroku Saturday 27th December: Ishiuchi Hanaoka Late December Mt Granview Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Monday 15th December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 295cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 6 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 100cm (15th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 295cm reported on 6 days Previous report Next report All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Yuzawa. The 'new snowfall' number represents the amount of snow measured since the previous report. All opinions are those of the individual reporters. Information regarding ski area operations is manually checked every morning and is believed to be correct at the time of the report. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 10cm Snowfall at base this season 305cm Posted on Tuesday 16th December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. The snowfall continued yesterday through into the afternoon though it wasn't as determined as it was on Sunday, and by evening the skies were much clearer and people could catch a breath! A quick ride round the area yesterday and things were looking suitably mid-winter. People on the roofs of buildings that look like they are about to get squashed shovelling snow onto the road, snow 'walls' at the side of roads which are 2m high in places. It sure didn't feel like middle of December. Having driven through Uonuma and Minamiuonuma as well as Yuzawa, I would probably say that there's more snow to the north in the Uonuma/Minamiuonuma areas. But lots everywhere and when there's so much it doesn't really matter. Anyway, this morning it's a cloudy somewhat overcast feel, grey skies all round. No new snow overnight (so what I log today is from the daytime yesterday). Temperatures to rise to around 3 degrees today, with quite strong winds and rain likely later on. We are still on for the stormy conditions tomorrow and maybe into Thursday when we expect more potentially heavy snowfall and strong winds. It might not be nice out there for a while. Resorts that are open seem to be open on the same scale again today, so I'm guessing this is what we have until the weekend. Once the weekend arrives I would think they'll open up fully and the resorts that plan to open from Saturday should also get off to a great start. --- Resorts currently open: Kagura - pretty much fully open Naeba - part open Iwappara - part open, 2 central area lifts operating Joetsu Kokusai - part open, 5 lifts operating Maiko Snow Resort - part open, top Okusoeji area, Gondola and 2 Okusoeji lifts operating --- Official snow depths: Kagura: 200cm Naeba: 100cm Iwappara: 160cm Maiko Snow Resort: 170cm Joetsu Kokusai: 180cm --- Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date): Friday 19th December: Ishiuchi Maruyama Muikamachi Ski Resort Yuzawa Nakazato Yuzawa Kogen Yuzawa Park Saturday 20th December: Chateau Shiozawa GALA Yuzawa Ipponsugi Kandatsu Kogen Ludens Yuzawa Nakazato Snow Wood Muimamachi Hakkaisan NASPA Ski Garden Yuzawa Kogen (Nunoba area) Tuesday 23rd December: Itsukamachi Thursday 25th December: Hakkaisanroku Saturday 27th December: Ishiuchi Hanaoka Late December Mt Granview Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Tuesday 16th December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 305cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 7 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 100cm (15th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 305cm reported on 7 days Previous report Next report All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Yuzawa. The 'new snowfall' number represents the amount of snow measured since the previous report. All opinions are those of the individual reporters. Information regarding ski area operations is manually checked every morning and is believed to be correct at the time of the report. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 20cm Snowfall at base this season 325cm Posted on Wednesday 17th December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. We did end up with rain yesterday from the afternoon and continuing into the evening. I'm guessing (and this is a guess, sorry) that it would have been snow higher up. Rain down in town. It wasn't as cold as it had been but still didn't rise above 3 degrees. The news last night was full of this "once every however many years" winter storm will be over Japan today and tomorrow - with Hokkaido getting special mention for extra strong typhoon like winds - and while this morning has started snowy and windy, it's not crazily so. A look at the weather charts shows more snow falling to the north of us here, perhaps around Koide and Horinouchi, with slightly less here in the Yuzawa region... but that's just for the moment. The forecast is for heavy snow and strong winds for all of today and tomorrow. 25-30cm of snow on the top of my car parked in Ishiuchi overnight and it's definitely rather windy, but from what I can tell the ski resorts that are open should be open as normal this morning. Kagura reports 20cm of snowfall and... well, that's actually it for reported numbers. I do wish they'd all tell us every day! --- Resorts currently open: Kagura - pretty much fully open Naeba - part open Iwappara - part open, 2 central area lifts operating Joetsu Kokusai - part open, 5 lifts operating Maiko Snow Resort - part open, top Okusoeji area, Gondola and 2 Okusoeji lifts operating --- Official snow depths: Kagura: 200cm Naeba: 100cm Iwappara: 150cm Maiko Snow Resort: 170cm Joetsu Kokusai: 180cm --- Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date): Friday 19th December: Ishiuchi Maruyama Muikamachi Ski Resort Yuzawa Nakazato Yuzawa Kogen Yuzawa Park Saturday 20th December: Chateau Shiozawa GALA Yuzawa Ipponsugi Kandatsu Kogen Ludens Yuzawa Nakazato Snow Wood Muimamachi Hakkaisan NASPA Ski Garden Yuzawa Kogen (Nunoba area) Tuesday 23rd December: Itsukamachi Thursday 25th December: Hakkaisanroku Saturday 27th December: Ishiuchi Hanaoka Late December Mt Granview Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Wednesday 17th December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 325cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 8 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 100cm (15th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 325cm reported on 8 days Previous report Next report All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Yuzawa. The 'new snowfall' number represents the amount of snow measured since the previous report. All opinions are those of the individual reporters. Information regarding ski area operations is manually checked every morning and is believed to be correct at the time of the report. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 85cm Snowfall at base this season 410cm Posted on Thursday 18th December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. This storm that is over Japan at the moment is still at the top of the national news. Last night they were warning that parts of Niigata were up for 120cm of more snowfall before Thursday evening. I think a lot of people went to sleep worried about what might await them but for this region anyway there wasn't quite as much expected overnight. Let's rewind back to yesterday. It was pretty wild. After the snow I reported yesterday morning, in the early afternoon I took a fresh 40cm off the top of my car. Then 20cm more in the evening. And there's another 15cm on there this morning. So that's 85cm since my last report. I might even be under-reporting there. It was moderately windy at times yesterday, sometimes strong. So it's another of those days when there's just a ridiculous amount of snow around. It's hard to believe that we are still only on 18th December and only really had 3 lots of snow. Quite a few ski resorts around Yuzawa and Minamiuonuma plan on being open from tomorrow and then more again on Saturday (details below). They won't have lack of snow problems to deal with, that's for sure. If anything, the problem might be digging out the ski lifts! A good problem to have though as sometimes around this time of the year and even beyond Christmas there's a worry about snow. Not this year! Kagura reports 80cm of fresh snowfall and the official snow depth goes up from 200cm to.... er, 200cm. (How does that work then?! I know the amount that falls doesn't always translate into the same amount added due to compacting and all that, but still...!) Strong winds up there is affecting Kagura with only the Mitsumata Ropeway, Mitsumata Number 1 Quad and Mitsumata Number 2 Romance pair lifts operating. So no main Kagura area and no Tashiro today. Naeba report 35-50cm and they are too limited to lower areas due to wind. Here in town it's not actually snowing at the moment, and even looks like it might clear up with visibility getting better - can see the mountains - but the snow is due through the day and I imagine this is just a temporary break, it'll probably be snowing again just after I post this. The forecast for the day is more heavy snow and moderate to strong winds, with the snowfall easing off overnight by early tomorrow morning. Some forecasts are saying we might get to see clearer skies and the sun shining down tomorrow. Would be nice. As locals deal with all of this snow - 'enough is enough' seems to be the local consensus for now - this weekend should be great. With much more suddenly opening up in some respects it feels like this coming weekend is the first main weekend of the season proper after a kind of 'pre-season' Hope you can get here to enjoy it. Snow should be superb. --- Resorts currently open: Kagura - limited to just Mitsumata today due to wind Naeba - part open Iwappara - part open, 2 central area lifts operating Joetsu Kokusai - part open, 5 lifts operating Maiko Snow Resort - part open, top Okusoeji area, Gondola and 2 Okusoeji lifts operating --- Official snow depths: Kagura: 200cm Naeba: 100cm Iwappara: 190cm Maiko Snow Resort: 200cm Joetsu Kokusai: 180cm --- Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date): Friday 19th December: Ishiuchi Maruyama Muikamachi Ski Resort Yuzawa Nakazato Yuzawa Kogen Yuzawa Park Saturday 20th December: Chateau Shiozawa GALA Yuzawa Ipponsugi Kandatsu Kogen Ludens Yuzawa Nakazato Snow Wood Muimamachi Hakkaisan NASPA Ski Garden Yuzawa Kogen (Nunoba area) Tuesday 23rd December: Itsukamachi Thursday 25th December: Hakkaisanroku Saturday 27th December: Ishiuchi Hanaoka Late December Mt Granview Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Thursday 18th December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 410cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 9 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 100cm (15th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 410cm reported on 9 days Previous report Next report All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Yuzawa. The 'new snowfall' number represents the amount of snow measured since the previous report. All opinions are those of the individual reporters. Information regarding ski area operations is manually checked every morning and is believed to be correct at the time of the report. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 50cm Snowfall at base this season 460cm Posted on Friday 19th December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. Hello from Yuzawa and for once it's not snowing. Locals breath a sigh of relief as they continue to dig themselves out of their houses and find their cars under all of the snow. I didn't move the snow from my car yesterday and I think I can just about make it out under a huge blob of marshmallow outside my house. Yesterday while it snowed for most of the day once again it wasn't quite as full on as it was the previous day. Still, another 40-50cm or so I would say. Kagura report 80cm since yesterday. For the moment it is mostly cloudy and overcast over the town area but quite bright. I can see that down in the Naeba area there's some blue sky and the sun seems to be shining down on the lower slopes of the resort. And there's just now some blue sky visible from here in town as well. Perhaps it will clear up today here too? More resorts opening for the first time this morning. Or should I say 'pre-open' with some, which kind of seems to mean 'open a bit'. Or maybe even 'part open'. Sounds like an event though! Though I do see that at Kandatsu Kogen this morning... it's free! Yes, a full day of free skiing on offer over there which can't be bad. It's good to see Kandatsu Kogen back after a year with the lifts taking a rest. I think it was a bit of a shock for Kandatsu not to be open. But anyway, back to normal now. And more resorts opening tomorrow as well as can be seen in the list below. In fact, come tomorrow there'll only be a few places left to get open for the season (one of those being the famous Mt Granview). Just looking round for information and as expected from tomorrow more lifts and courses will be open. Maiko Snow Resort, for example, will have all of the top Okusoeji area open and also the Nagamine area with part of the Maiko area... basically most of the resort. I can't see much reason why resorts that are open at at least close to fully open from tomorrow and it would surprise me if places continued to hold back. There's enough snow! Tomorrow it will warm up slightly - highs as high as 8 degrees in town? Rain in the evening? Nooooo! If we get that rain lets hope it quickly turns into snow - which is what is forecast to happen. Wouldn't want to spoil all of this lovely fluffy light snow that we have. --- Resorts currently open: * Apologies - at the time of writing this report it is proving difficult to confirm full details for the resorts that are opening for the first time this morning Kagura - fully open Naeba - part open Iwappara - part open, 2 central area lifts operating Joetsu Kokusai - part open, 5 lifts operating Maiko Snow Resort - part open, top Okusoeji area, Gondola and 2 Okusoeji lifts operating Ishiuchi Maruyama - lots open Muikamachi Ski Resort Yuzawa Nakazato Yuzawa Kogen Yuzawa Park --- Official snow depths: GALA Yuzawa: N/A Ishiuchi Maruyama: 250cm Iwappara: 205cm Joetsu Kokusai: 180cm Kagura: 230cm Kandatsu Kogen: 200cm Maiko Snow Resort: 200cm Naeba: 140cm NASPA Ski Garden: 190cm (opens tomorrow) Yuzawa Kogen: N/A Yuzawa Nakazato: N/A --- Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date): Saturday 20th December: Chateau Shiozawa GALA Yuzawa Ipponsugi Kandatsu Kogen Ludens Yuzawa Nakazato Snow Wood Muimamachi Hakkaisan NASPA Ski Garden Yuzawa Kogen (Nunoba area) Tuesday 23rd December: Itsukamachi Thursday 25th December: Hakkaisanroku Saturday 27th December: Ishiuchi Hanaoka Late December Mt Granview Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Friday 19th December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 460cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 10 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 100cm (15th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 460cm reported on 10 days Previous report Next report All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Yuzawa. The 'new snowfall' number represents the amount of snow measured since the previous report. All opinions are those of the individual reporters. Information regarding ski area operations is manually checked every morning and is believed to be correct at the time of the report. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 0cm Snowfall at base this season 460cm Posted on Saturday 20th December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. Yesterday the clouds gradually broke up leaving us early afternoon with lots of blue sky above Yuzawa and Minamiuonuma. It turned into a beautiful afternoon with just a bit of cloud hanging on. Snow was great too - one of the things about this early snowfall was not just how much there was, but the quality... was like mid-season really nice condition. It didn't warm up too much during the day yesterday, but it's a milder start this morning and cloudy - or is that overcast? Just generally grey skies basically. As of 9am it's around 3 degrees here in town and it might rise to as high as around 8 degrees later on in the day. Bit too warm that, and while it will get colder later on there's a good chance it will rain. It should be snowing overnight though with tomorrow set to be colder. Fingers crossed for it to get colder quicker than the forecast suggests and we avoid that rain stuff. --- Today sees another bunch of resorts open for the first time including GALA Yuzawa and NASPA Ski Garden and most places are either fully or close to be being fully open. It's great that we are in that position so early in the season and not worrying about the amount of snow. Noticably more people around this morning as well, it's probably what you might call the first big weekend of the season and I reckon lots of people will be enjoying their first slides of the season today. As most ski resorts in Yuzawa and Minamiuonuma are now at least part open, I'll just make a note below of which are still waiting to start their season. Just Itsukamachi, Hakkaisanroku, Ishiuchi Hanaoka and Mt Granview left now. --- Official snow depths: GALA Yuzawa: 270cm Ishiuchi Maruyama: 230cm Iwappara: 175cm Joetsu Kokusai: 180cm Kagura: 230cm Kandatsu Kogen: 200cm Maiko Snow Resort: 200cm Naeba: 140cm NASPA Ski Garden: 195cm Yuzawa Kogen: 190cm Yuzawa Nakazato: 130cm --- Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date): All resorts not noted here are now at least part open. Tuesday 23rd December: Itsukamachi Thursday 25th December: Hakkaisanroku Saturday 27th December: Ishiuchi Hanaoka Late December Mt Granview Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Saturday 20th December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 460cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 10 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 100cm (15th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 460cm reported on 10 days Previous report Next report All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Yuzawa. The 'new snowfall' number represents the amount of snow measured since the previous report. All opinions are those of the individual reporters. Information regarding ski area operations is manually checked every morning and is believed to be correct at the time of the report. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 20cm Snowfall at base this season 480cm Posted on Tuesday 23rd December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. Snowfall remained half-hearted for much of the morning at least and into the afternoon, though around 2pm it started snowing more heavily... didn't amount to that much snow on the ground though. So it was surprising to see on the news how much snow had been falling elsewhere in Niigata to the north of us here - the clouds had kind of missed us out of the main event. My friend over in Tokamachi said he had to move over 40cm off his car yesterday evening, that had fallen during the day. So the forecast was for 50cm and over in the mountains of the region for overnight, so we were looking forward to that. Didn't quite turn out like that though. There's 15cm of snow on the top of my car this morning; I'd guess that resorts around town saw about 20cm upwards. Kagura are reporting 30-40cm; Naeba reporting 20-40cm. Nice to get the layer of fresh, but let's have more today ok?! Today is a national holiday in Japan - Emperor's Birthday - so I would expect places to at least be busier than a normal Tuesday. The weekend didn't see too many crowds so just how many people will turn out for today, I don't know. Christmas isn't a holiday here in Japan and while people might eat a cake and friend chicken on Christmas Eve (as is the 'tradition' here), for most it's just another day. Indeed you'll probably see Christmas trees taken down late on the 24th, to be replaced with New Year gear. Oh yes and lots of ski hills will get visited by Santa. Busy guy. The forecast for today remains snow and it is snowing now, so hopefully we can get some more fresh snow on the runs. Tomorrow looks set to be milder with some forecasts telling us that we might have clearer sunny skies (others just cloudy). Itsukamachi resort in Minamiuonuma opens from today. --- Official snow depths: GALA Yuzawa: 230cm Ishiuchi Maruyama: 200cm Iwappara: 165cm Joetsu Kokusai: 160cm Kagura: 230cm Kandatsu Kogen: 190cm Maiko Snow Resort: 190cm Naeba: 150cm NASPA Ski Garden: 160cm Yuzawa Kogen: 200cm (Kogen) 150cm (Nunoba) Yuzawa Nakazato: 130cm --- Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date): All resorts not noted here are now at least part open. Thursday 25th December: Hakkaisanroku Saturday 27th December: Ishiuchi Hanaoka Late December Mt Granview Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Tuesday 23rd December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 480cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 11 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 100cm (15th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 480cm reported on 11 days Previous report Next report All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Yuzawa. The 'new snowfall' number represents the amount of snow measured since the previous report. All opinions are those of the individual reporters. Information regarding ski area operations is manually checked every morning and is believed to be correct at the time of the report. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 2cm Snowfall at base this season 482cm Posted on Wednesday 24th December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. Mostly cloudy over the region, some quite dark clouds there early on as well. Yesterday it was snowing on and off for most of the day and into the evening, though the kind of snow that didn't end up with much in terms of new cm on the ground. There were a few times when blue skies appeared as well, only to be fairly quickly covered again by the clouds. Fairly hard packed snow conditions on lower slopes yesterday afternoon and a bit icy - it felt pretty cold out there - so while there's still a large amount of snow delivered to the area. Perhaps Santa could help rather than skiing around! And perhaps he will. While today is expected to be quite mild and temperatures rising to maybe around 6 degrees early afternoon, it should be getting cold by evening and hopefully snow falling by the end of the day (though some local forecasts give us the chance of rain before snow). After that, snow for all of tomorrow, so bring it on Mr Christmas. I'm posting the report too early this morning to catch the official snow depth number updates and so most of those are as they were yesterday. --- Official snow depths: GALA Yuzawa: 230cm Ishiuchi Maruyama: 200cm Iwappara: 165cm Joetsu Kokusai: 160cm Kagura: 230cm Kandatsu Kogen: 190cm Maiko Snow Resort: 190cm Naeba: 150cm NASPA Ski Garden: 160cm Yuzawa Kogen: 200cm (Kogen) 150cm (Nunoba) Yuzawa Nakazato: 130cm --- Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date): All resorts not noted here are now at least part open. Thursday 25th December: Hakkaisanroku Saturday 27th December: Ishiuchi Hanaoka Late December Mt Granview Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Wednesday 24th December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 482cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 12 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 100cm (15th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 482cm reported on 12 days Previous report Next report All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Yuzawa. The 'new snowfall' number represents the amount of snow measured since the previous report. All opinions are those of the individual reporters. Information regarding ski area operations is manually checked every morning and is believed to be correct at the time of the report. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 15cm Snowfall at base this season 497cm Posted on Thursday 25th December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. Good morning from Yuzawa and Merry Christmas! It's a White Christmas too, with snow coming down very nicely at the moment. First of all back to yesterday. Those early morning clouds lightened up and by mid morning there was some blue sky around and for a few hours before noon we enjoyed lots of sun and lots of blue sky. Lovely morning it turned out to be, and not cold either. The sun softened up the snow a bit too. More cloud just after lunch but it stayed generally fine for the day. The photos on the report this morning were taken yesterday morning at the Joetsu Kokusai resort in Minamiuonuma. So back to this morning and there's around 15cm or so of fresh snow on the top of my car. Kagura reporting 30cm. Naeba reporting 10-20cm. Maiko Snow Resort reporting 20cm. (By the way, someone asked why we only report the 'new snowfall' for a few resorts. Basically we want to post any useful information that we can find. Unfortunately lots of resorts don't mention the new snowfall every morning. If the info is available, we'll post it... as simple as that!) It's not too cold, in town at least hovering around zero, and so definitely colder than yesterday. The forecast for today and tomorrow is basically... snow. Once we get into the weekend some clearer skies are due and milder conditions as well. Just to remind Kagura fans that the too Kagura Number 1 Romance pair lift will be starting up for the season on New Years Day. Sounds good to me. Fresh snow, so it should be good out there today. --- Official snow depths: GALA Yuzawa: 240cm Ishiuchi Maruyama: 200cm Iwappara: 155cm Joetsu Kokusai: 170cm Kagura: 230cm Kandatsu Kogen: 180cm Maiko Snow Resort: 190cm Naeba: 150cm NASPA Ski Garden: 182cm Yuzawa Kogen: 200cm (Kogen) 150cm (Nunoba) Yuzawa Nakazato: 130cm --- Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date): All resorts not noted here are now at least part open. Saturday 27th December: Ishiuchi Hanaoka Late December Mt Granview Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Thursday 25th December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 497cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 13 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 100cm (15th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 497cm reported on 13 days Previous report Next report All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Yuzawa. The 'new snowfall' number represents the amount of snow measured since the previous report. All opinions are those of the individual reporters. Information regarding ski area operations is manually checked every morning and is believed to be correct at the time of the report. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 35cm Snowfall at base this season 532cm Posted on Friday 26th December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. Snow for most of the day yesterday along with a moderate wind, though it didn't actually end up with the amount of snow that you'd think. It was really blowing around in the evening though, and the snow obviously set in good and proper overnight with a nice thick layer to report this morning. The on-top-of-the-car number is 35-40cm. Maiko Snow Resort report over 40cm. Kagura report 50cm. Naeba report 30-50cm. Looking good! Top conditions this morning wherever you go in the area, I'd say. But... Quite strong winds are messing with operations at Kagura early in the morning though - the Tashiro area will be closed for the day and from the Mitsumata Station it's open up to the Kagura Number 1 Romance pair lift (possibly that the quad will open later depending on conditions). Looks like the wind is affecting top areas of Naeba as well today. A quick look round other resorts and they all seem to be planning to be open as normal. It's snowing still this morning though a bit on and off over the last hour or so. Snow is forecast to be with us for the day today though so any breaks are probably just temporary. It should ease off by tomorrow morning though and we will probably get some sunny conditions over the weekend, especially on Sunday according to the local forecast. There's some impressive walls of snow around town and on Route 17. The tallest I have seen are around the traffic lights near the base areas of Ishiuchi Maruyama. Tomorrow sees the opening of the remaining two ski hills in the area.... Ishiuchi Hanaoka and the famous Mt Granview! --- Official snow depths: GALA Yuzawa: 250cm Ishiuchi Maruyama: 240cm Iwappara: 190cm Joetsu Kokusai: 170cm Kagura: 250cm Kandatsu Kogen: 200cm Maiko Snow Resort: 240cm Naeba: 170cm NASPA Ski Garden: 190cm Yuzawa Kogen: 210cm (Kogen) 160cm (Nunoba) Yuzawa Nakazato: 150cm --- Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date): All resorts not noted here are now at least part open. Saturday 27th December: Ishiuchi Hanaoka Mt Granview --- Nighta in the area Nighta 'night skiing' - where some slopes are floodlit for skiing and snowboarding in the evening, is available at the following resorts in the area. Ishiuchi Maruyama: Every day until 21st March (until 8:50pm) Iwappara: Every day until 22nd March (until 8pm on weekdays and Sundays, 9pm on Saturdays) Joetsu Kokusai: Every day until 22nd March (until 9pm) Kandatsu Kogen: From 23rd January, 'all night' on holidays (6pm or 10pm until 4am the next morning) Maiko Snow Resort: Every day until 14th March (until 8pm) Naeba: Every day until 29th March (until 9pm) NASPA Ski Garden (skiers only): 27th December until 3rd January; 11th January; Saturdays until 29th February (until 7pm) Yuzawa Nakazato: 27th December until 3rd January; 11th January; Saturdays from 10th January until 14th March (until 8:30pm) Chateaux Shiozawa also have nighta but only on certain days - no fixed schedule available at the moment). Resorts not mentioned above do not operate 'nighta'. Some resorts offer tickets that include nighta, others need a seperate lift ticket. Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Friday 26th December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 532cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 14 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 100cm (15th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 532cm reported on 14 days Previous report Next report All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Yuzawa. The 'new snowfall' number represents the amount of snow measured since the previous report. All opinions are those of the individual reporters. Information regarding ski area operations is manually checked every morning and is believed to be correct at the time of the report. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 2cm Snowfall at base this season 559cm Posted on Tuesday 30th December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. It wasn't the best of days yesterday in terms of weather and associated conditions. Rain at times, some snow at higher elevations, and limited visibility as well in many areas due to cloud and fog. This morning Kagura are reporting 5cm of snow but there's no fresh to see down here in town - Maiko is reporting 2cm on it's slopes so perhaps a thin cover early morning around the resorts. It looks a bit wet out, but not raining or snowing now. In fact the sun is starting to shine through some thin cloud over there. The forecast for the day however is snow and it does look like snow clouds should be over the area again a little later on this morning. I didn't mention this on Saturday when this started but better late than never - the link up between Yuzawa Kogen, GALA Yuzawa and Ishiuchi Maruyama resorts is now open. Between the first two it's a Ropeway across from Yuzawa Kogen to the South Area of GALA Yuzawa. The link between GALA Yuzawa and Ishiuchi takes you from the North Area of GALA Yuzawa to the top of the Ishiuchi Maruyama resort area. A special ticket is available that allows you to have free ride of all of that lot. Lots of New Years events going on around the resorts mostly tomorrow night and Thursday night - expect to see a few fireworks going up! So how's the weather going to be? Well, forecasts are telling us to expect some today, a milder day tomorrow but temperatures to take a drop tomorrow night and snow to be falling. Might not be the best weather for the fireworks. Good chance of heavy snow into and over New Years Day. It would be good to get a refreshening of the snow out there, but we can't really complain with all the snow we have had this December. Here's hoping 2015 gets off to a snowy start and continues that way. --- Official snow depths: GALA Yuzawa: 300cm Ishiuchi Maruyama: 220cm Iwappara: 160cm Joetsu Kokusai: 180cm Kagura: 250cm Kandatsu Kogen: 210cm Maiko Snow Resort: 210cm Naeba: 180cm NASPA Ski Garden: 240cm Yuzawa Kogen: 230cm (Kogen) 180cm (Nunoba) Yuzawa Nakazato: 160cm Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Tuesday 30th December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 559cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 16 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 100cm (15th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 559cm reported on 16 days Previous report Next report All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Yuzawa. The 'new snowfall' number represents the amount of snow measured since the previous report. All opinions are those of the individual reporters. Information regarding ski area operations is manually checked every morning and is believed to be correct at the time of the report. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 0cm Snowfall at base this season 559cm Posted on Wednesday 31st December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. Unfortunately it did rain yesterday and quite a bit at times as well. Sleet and snow at times and in higher elevations but a real wet feeling to the day. We were hoping for a layer of fresh snow to go on top of that this morning, but that hasn't really happened. Kagura were expecting 10-20cm, but got 5cm. Down herew at town levels it's more like a dusting, at best. It's a generally cloudy start to the day, but looks like there's some blue sky over Naeba and Kagura areas and a bit of sun early on. So as you know we have been eyeing up this heavy snow storm that has been forecast for, well, tonight and tomorrow really. Will it happen? Well, the forecasts are still pointing to that happening and for me to be able to start 2015 off with a nice report tomorrow morning of a thick new layer of snow. So fingers crossed that is what will happen. Another relatively mild day forecast, another chance of rain in there, before getting into the snow later on tonight. After that amazing first chunk of December, it's got to be said that it has been something of a disappointing end. Still, loads of snow still around we just need the fresh layers. And it does look like the new year should start off in a good place. So, until tomorrow then. Enjoy your New Years Eve wherever you may be. See you in 2015. --- Official snow depths: GALA Yuzawa: 300cm Ishiuchi Maruyama: 220cm Iwappara: 150cm Joetsu Kokusai: 180cm Kagura: 250cm Kandatsu Kogen: 200cm Maiko Snow Resort: 200cm Naeba: 180cm NASPA Ski Garden: 240cm Yuzawa Kogen: 230cm (Kogen) 180cm (Nunoba) Yuzawa Nakazato: 160cm Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Wednesday 31st December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 559cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 16 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 100cm (15th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 559cm reported on 16 days Previous report Next report All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Yuzawa. The 'new snowfall' number represents the amount of snow measured since the previous report. All opinions are those of the individual reporters. Information regarding ski area operations is manually checked every morning and is believed to be correct at the time of the report. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com